Leave A Legacy
The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever. Joshua 4:19-24
This is one of my favorite passages from scripture. In this passage, the Lord had done something miraculous – He parted the Jordan River so Joshua could lead the Israelites to the new land. After crossing to the other side, Joshua had the Israelites take up remembrance stones and build a memorial for the generations that follow. The memorial was there so that when children to come ask “what is this for?” – they can be told of the wondrous works of the Lord.
I really want to do the same thing for my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and generations to follow. I don’t know about you, but sometimes my day ends and I have to wonder if I left anything of value my children would want to ask about? So many days I fall short and I am not the mom I should be to my children. There are days I spend more time on my computer than I do playing with them. There are days where everything they do and say seem to rub me the wrong way. So many times I have lost my patience and yelled at them too much.
Even with my shortfalls come the opportunity to show God’s grace. I pray that my legacy is one of a mom who loves the Lord with everything she has and wants nothing more than to see the Lord do an amazing work in her children. I want my life to be a testimony of what the Lord has done for a sinner who was previously immersed in her own depravity and how God’s grace saved me. I want my children to realize that in life, Jesus is the most important thing there is. He makes life worth everything.
That is why I so greatly appreciate encouraging messages and my time where I can study God’s word for encouragement. I have so enjoyed John MacArthur’s Grace to You radio series on the fulfilled family. In that series, John MacArthur reminded me that my single most important task as a mom is to share the saving and redeeming grace of Jesus Christ with my children. I am responsible to leave them the legacy of the work Jesus can do for His own.
My curio cabinet has some stones that have mine and my husband’s spiritual markers written on them. We have recorded such things as our salvation, our marriage, certain bible studies that have changed our lives and moments in time we knew God was working. I cannot wait for the day we can add a stone to our cabinet that one of our children has turned their lives over to the Lord. Hopefully, these stones can be passed on through each generation as a physical reminder of the testimony to what the Lord has done for us and our family.
Leaving a legacy — that is what being a mom is about. It isn’t ALL about the soccer games, basketball games, AWANA class, piano lessons, swimming lessons or whatever else we moms busy ourselves with. Sharing Jesus with our children is our number one priority. The rest is up to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Be blessed today.
Father, I lift up all of our children to you and ask that you show them through the working of your Holy Spirit their depravity and need for your saving grace. I pray you would bring them to salvation by faith through grace through the work Jesus did on the cross for us. Lord, I lift up all the moms who read this today and pray for their encouragement and strength as they pass on their own legacies to their children. In Jesus precious name, Amen.
MY curio cabinet has some rocks in it!!! They were my dad’s and he wrote where he found them (from the Holy Land, Finland, Hawaii, etc.) on the stones.
Beautiful post!
Having the stones wasn’t enough for them to ask the children to ask the question. They had to pass by them to give them an opportunity to ask about the markers.
Am I marching my kids pass my markers? Am I reminding them of the good that the Lord has done for me? For them?
I hope that I’m making them pass by my markers everyday so that they will 1) know what they are and 2) want to make their own markers for God.
OK…I’ve got some goosebumps. This is the same scripture I posted on this morning. I, too, love this scripture and value it because of its lasting merit in teaching us the importance of passing on our faith to our children and to those under our influence. You have scripted your thoughts in the matter with such truth and warm emotion.
Stones of remembrance are treasures worth preserving. You are obviously doing that for your family, and I want to do better job of preserving some for mine.
peace~elaine
I was hooked when I read the title of your post and I was not disappointed as I continued reading. Great post.
Dana,
Wonderful post. This scripture always speaks out to me. I think we must have spiritual markers – physical markers – to remember the triumphs in our lives. When we are in the valleys of life, these markers remind us about how much the Lord has done and what He promises to do in our future. Well done!
What a beautiful post. Your topic hit a nerve that went right to my heart. As mothers we would lay our lives down for our children. How amazing that we get to share with our babies a God who did just that for us? I pray too that my legacy will be that my children would take the torch and continue the race. I pray that the depravity that I used to know would be remembered no more and that the Lord would light their lives in unmatchable, inexpressible ways.
Thanks for such a wonderful reminder.
Blessings, Joanne
p.s. for any of you Laced with Grace reading this…thank you again for the opportunity to attend the She Speaks conference next week. I pray that I get the opportunity to meet many of you.
I will be the gal from California without the accent, sucking in her tummy and probably looking lost!
Awesome post.
How true! We sometimes busy ourselves with things that are not of eternal value. Sharing the saving grace of our Lord and Savior is truly the most important thing…
Thank you for sharing your heart and the reminder what should be important to us…